


Easy

by Luzula



Category: due South
Genre: Backstory, Gen, ds_snippets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-25
Updated: 2009-09-25
Packaged: 2017-10-03 01:32:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luzula/pseuds/Luzula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Benton learns to sail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Easy

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of self-indulgent, okay? Basically, it's like a PWP, except that instead of sex there is sailing. At least I have canon support for this. *points to Mountie on the Bounty*  
> Prompt: upper

Benton swung the rudder around and narrowly escaped getting hit on the head by the boom. Captain Smithers' method of teaching him to sail was very similar to his father's way of teaching him to light a fire.

"Get out there and experiment, and you'll soon get the hang of it," Captain Smithers had said, after teaching Benton a few knots.

The little boat only had one sail, and it really should not be that hard. To get out from the shore in the face of the wind, he needed to...tack, that was the word. He'd read about this sometime.

Benton frowned and hauled in the sail, and then turned the boat towards the wind. The sail flapped indecisively and then filled. The boat began to move, and excited by this success, Benton forgot to keep hold of the rudder, and the boat nosed up to the wind and slowed.

He tried again, and held the boat steady as she gathered speed. Out from the shore, the wind was stronger, and he squinted at the upper part of the sail, making sure it was full. Ah, of course--if he took the boom in even more, he could get closer to the wind.

The waves were higher here, too, the spray soaking his shirt. The boat was like a live thing, leaning over in the wind and singing with tension. Benton grinned. It was...not like dogsledding at all, actually, except for the speed and the exhilaration and the way the sun sparkled on the sea instead of the snow. And he'd gotten the hang of it now--it was easy.

At least, Benton thought so until the inadvertent jibe on the way back, after which Captain Smithers had to come and pick him out of the sea, dripping wet.


End file.
